Category: Time Management

A bit less than 10 years ago I posted about “Inbox Zero“. Though for as long as I’ve known the concept, I’ve been an avid fan/believer of it. Over the course of the years, I’ve evangelized about the concept to many, where a lot of people typically asked me : “Isn’t that really time-consuming?!?”. My answer has always been ; “It is a habit… And indeed, you invest a bit of time into it, though the gains of not having to pick up the same email(s) over and over again is where you easily win!”.

Theory

The basic premise of Inbox Zero is that your inbox is at all times.. EMPTY!

For a lot of people this seems impossible to achieve, though you realize this by going though the following flow for each mails that comes in… at the time it comes in. So yes, you “immediately” (as in the moment you open your mailbox) process all new mails. How do you do that, by the following rule set…

Do I/we need to care?

No, Delete.

Yes. Great! Is the mail something I should do?

No, Delegate (forward).

Yes. Interesting! Can I reply in less than 2-3 minutes?

Yes, Respond (reply).

No, Defer (flag for follow-up). => And schedule times to where you’ll focus on burning through your “backlog” (read: deferred mails), so Do.

Practical Guidance

That sounds quite simple to do? So why don’t we all do it?!? From what I’ve seen, it starts with not knowing / being taught the system. And on the other had, it also requires a given level of discipline / organization to achieve it. Though in my mind, it can be accomplished by all if you are just given a bit of practical guidance. That’s what we’ll be talking about today!

Personally, I am someone who is always on time. A disaster must have struck down upon us before I am late to anything. I would rather sit in my car for an hour as I am way too early for a meeting, than to be a minute late. This week I learned that there is a term that follows the same belief!

Vince Lombardi was the head coach of Greenbay Packers. He ran a disciplined regime and introduced something that later became known as “Lombardi Time” ;

Lombardi expected his players and coaches to be 15 minutes early to meetings and practices. Not on time — 15 minutes early. If they weren’t, he considered them “late.” Thus, it came to be called Lombardi time.

A fun fact ; The clock above the entrance of the Greenbay Packers their stadium runs 15 minutes early…
So next time we have a meeting together, show up on Lombardi time. I’ll be there!

Often I see people struggling with their mailbox… Personally, I’ve been using the “Inbox Zero” for several years, and it’s not that difficult to manage. Check the following slideware to get a grasp of the concept ;

“One Master” : Use one one master agenda, todo-list, etc. Using multiple will only make you lose sight of certain things.

“Within an arm reach” : This is close with the previous one, as you need to have that “One Master” close to you. If you don’t have your agenda with you, make sure you sync it to your master!

Clean Inbox : Keep your inbox clean! Set a rule where CC messages are moved to a seperate folder & apply the “Inbox Zero”-concept.

Think Modular : Thinking in an abstract way is sometimes hard for people. Yet group your tasklist into packages (milestones?) and make sure you only see the package you’re working on. This will have a wonderful psychologic effect as the mountain you have to climb may seem less high.

Time is the only constant : “I have not time” is possibly the most used excuse and I find it utter bogus! Time is the only constant in your daily world. It’s how you handle time and set the priorities. If you’re telling people you don’t have time; you’re telling them that you can’t manage it or that their request isn’t important to you!

In a fast-paced business culture of “get everything done yesterday,” it’s easy to admire and reward those busybusy people who always seem to be juggling 14 things at once. But business coach Dave Crenshaw argues that the most common kind of multitasking doesn’t boost productivity–it slows you down.

I kinda forget the reference for this, but a while ago I read that, with each interruption, the brain will need about 15 minutes to get all things in order again. This so that you’re at the same situation that you were when you were interrupted.

Up in the Clouds

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